Barriers
by KRoseC1013
Summary: Unlike everyone else in town, Gray wants nothing to do with Claire. He can't stand her, despite all her attempts to befriend him. But when one small mistake leads to one bigger problem, he might be seeing a lot more of her than they' both planned.
1. The Fateful Day

**((So it's my first story as you might be able to tell. I kinda wanted to venture off into a different side of ClairexGray than usual. Every story I read is from Claires pov and how she moves to Mineral Town and within one season her and Gray are super close and he's secretly falling for her the entire time. As much as I love Gray and Claire, and as guilty I am for reading those... haha, it gets a little old. ****So I hope no one really hates me for this ) **

**Ps: I'm starting this out at T.. but I'm not that certain if it belongs in M considering the direction its going in, so let me know if you think so :) ))**

**Barriers**

All the commotion surrounding her arrival was absolutely, positively, one hundred percent unnecessary in my mind. Our tight-nit town in the boonies saw maybe one to two unfamiliar faces a year, and the fact that this one was planning on staying made it even worse. So of course this newcomer was inevitably the subject of everybody's discussions. I couldn't do basically anything without hearing her name spread like the plague. I would hear it everywhere; when I tried to have a nice meal at the inn, at the Blacksmith, and even at my one sanctuary for serenity and silence, the library. As much as I tried to tune it all out and go on about my day, it was inescapable. In all honesty, no matter how 'nice' or 'pretty' anyone thought she was, I couldn't even stand to be in the same room with her for more than a minute. I was just unable to wrap my head around why she had caused such uproar from all the townsfolk for this long solely concerning one girl. Even I had moved to this microscopic town in the middle of scenic nowhere around four years ago, there was only maybe a week of chatter concerning my new permanent residence in this small town. Of course, I actually had family residing in the village prior, my grandfather. I could see this kind of clamor for the first couple weeks, but this was just getting ridiculous.

Now I myself am a man of few words, and many people know me by that, and I don't waste anytime getting straight to the point. There's not enough time to ramble on and beat around the bush in my opinion. So if I don't like you, you definitely know. There's no reason in my mind why I should act like I'm all 'buddy buddy' with someone I can't stand to be around. But the one thing I could not find plausible, was why this girl wouldn't give up after I repeatedly told her I didn't like her. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't turn around right off the bat and scream in her face, "Hey you're annoying. I don't like you so piss off." I don't treat women with that much disrespect; I at least talked to her maybe a few times before deciding I didn't like her. Even my first encounter with her wasn't the most ideal of first run ins. She had to walk in at the worse time possible, but no, that was perfectly okay with her. I still remember that day.

_For somewhere around the millionth time, my grandfather was yelling again. He was once again criticizing the piece I had so deliberately and tediously worked on for two weeks now. Nothing I made was ever good enough, and of course, I wasn't going to just sit there and take that from him. _

"_What!" I screamed, "What about it is **wrong**? Come on old man! Tell me!" He just glared right back at me. His face was almost tomato red with how much rage was built up within him._

"_What's wrong with it!" he asked condescendingly. "Are you really asking me that question, Gray? You of all people should know **exactly** what's wrong with it!" He took a deep breath followed by a heavy sigh. His tone wasn't as harsh this time around. "Gray, you act as if you know everything, but you have so much to learn!" The last sentence had infuriated me an unimaginable extent. _

"_Maybe if I had a teacher who spent as much time training me as he did yelling, I would be getting somewhere!" I yelled back. His eyes burned with rage as he looked as if he was going to start to say something, but I cut him off. "You know Gramps, you gotta start getting your shit together before I hightail it outta here," This was nothing new for him to hear, I practically said I was leaving almost everyday while I was working at the shop. _

"_Gray…" My grandfather started. _

"_Um excuse me…?" a softer voice spoke up behind me. Still infatuated with rage, I wasted no time in telling whoever decided to show up to kindly get the fuck out. _

"_Uh what the fuck do want? If you have nothing to…" I trailed off as I had begun to realize who I was talking to. A young girl in her early twenties stood before me. She was short to say the least, maybe five foot four. I looked down at her once again. I had never seen this girl before. She had green-blue eyes and almost too long of dirty blonde hair. She wasn't the prettiest girl I'd ever seen by far, but she wasn't ugly by any means. Her expression was indescribable. It looked as if she'd watched her family die or something, she was on the verge of tears. _

"_Gray!" My grandfather yelled, now at the peak of his rage. "How dare you talk to a customer that way, nonetheless a young woman?" I froze up as I met the girl eye to eye, her glaze pierced right into me. I was at a loss of words. Sure I wasn't always Mr. Nice Guy, or Mr. Mean Guy for that matter, but I mean yelling at some poor innocent girl who I'd just met probably was not okay. _

"_Uhhhm…" I choked on my words, "I'm…sorry…" It was all I could force out of my mouth. This had to be one of the most awkward moments of my life. _

"_Welcome." My grandfather said to the girl, "Please ignore my grandson Gray here… He's not really good with people as you can tell." She perked up a little bit. _

"_Oh really its fine don't even worry about it!" she chimed almost a little too perky. She definitely had one of the most annoying voices I'd ever heard. _

"_Good, now is there anything I can help you with?" He asked. _

"_Oh no, I was just wondering around," She smiled an awkward grin, "I'm the new farmer down the road, I was just curious you know?" So this was her? All the commotion for **her** seemed a little strange, but whatever not my concern. My grandfather seemed a little more enthusiastic than I was of course. _

"_So you're the new girl around? Heard a lot about 'cha lately." He said. "What's you're name?"_

"_Claire." She said in that voice once again, "And yup! That's me! What's you're name?" _

"_I'm Saibara. I'm the towns' blacksmith around here. If you ever need work done on your tools or anything come and I'll help you out, dear." Claire smiled and nodded as she headed for the door._

"_Thanks! I'll see you around!" She said way too cheerily as she left the building. I let out a heavy sigh as I retreated to the back of the store. _

"_Where do you think you're going son?" My grandpa questioned with a tone of anger. "Go tell her you're sorry."_

"_But I did-"_

"_That sorry excuse for an apology?" He raised an eyebrow, "No. Go, **now**." I wasn't going to waste time arguing with him about this, I knew better than that. I wasted no time heading for the door in search for that girl, Claire or whatever. Luckily, she hadn't gotten very far. She had traveled almost half way to the library by the time I caught up with her. _

"_Claire." I said from behind. She swiftly turned around, taken back a little. She shot me a questioning glance. _

"_Hi, it's Gray right?" I nodded and her face crept up into that awkward smile again. "What can I help you with?" I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, figuring I had come this far I might as well just apologize to her. No matter how much I wanted to just retreat back to the shop. _

"_I'm sorry… ya know for the way I acted back there and stuff." I managed to get out. "That definitely wasn't okay for me to snap at you like that. My grandpa just really knows how to push me to that breaking point…" I spoke a little more softly this time, really more to myself than her, "Sometimes I just want to quit…" She stepped a little closer, almost a little too close for my comfort. Her gaze met mine and maintained solid eye contact as she spoke in a more serious tone. _

"_Don't quit. That's as bad as just giving up." She said. "You can't keep barely sliding by expecting to improve. You have to work for it, its called training." I sort of half smiled at her words of encouragement, maybe she wasn't that bad. Or at least I thought until she spoke again, "I mean, I can definitely tell you kind of have some anger issues going on so I'm just not going to call you out on it after one little incident like that." I stopped dead in my tracks, bewildered at what she just said. _

"_Wait.. what?" I asked, wondering if she had really just said what I just heard. _

"_It's okay, Gray," She smiled once again. "I'm not the type to judge people because of what's going on in their lives. But if you ever need someone to talk to I'm always open ears!" I raised a confused eye brow as she waved and began to trot away. _

"_What the hell just happened?" I muttered to myself, "Anger issues? Me? This bitch is crazy." What right did this newbie have to waltz up to someone she had just met and outright assume they had some kind of anger issues? I had never met someone in my life so outrageously uncouth._

From that moment on I had decided to put up a barrier between her and me to create some distance. No matter how much she wanted to become friends with me after that day, I honestly wanted nothing to do with her. She practically infuriated the living day lights out of me. Although as much as I wanted to tell her to just piss off and leave me alone forever, I just couldn't bring myself to be that mean. This girl couldn't just take a hint. From the day we met, somewhere around the fourth of Spring, to today, the third day of Summer she hadn't given it a rest on trying to befriend me. She would come in practically every other day in attempt to converse with me and be all 'besties' or whatever. Even today she came in trying to make small talk and such. This Claire girl has to be one of the most oblivious girls I had ever encountered, that or she was just stupid.

I leaned my head back onto the lumpy pillow at the foot of my bed as I thought about all the fuss concerning this girl, figuring it would blow over eventually. Just as I began to rest my eyes my roommate, Cliff, barged in quite a bit more loudly than usual. He looked over at me and nodded his head towards me.

"Uh hey Gray," he said, there was a slightly frazzled tone to his voice as he spoke, "Umm… where's Kai? It's kinda late isn't it...?" I glanced over at the clock seated on my bed side table. Cliff was right, then inn was going to lock up in almost an hour and Kai, our summer roommate, was nowhere to be found. I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Don't really care, probably still with Popuri at the beach or somethin'." I said not really interested in Kai's affairs. Sure he was a pretty cool guy, fun to drink with. But he only cared about two things and two things only, Himself and hooking up with girls. He and Popuri have had the same off and on relationship since he started coming and working summers a few years back. Whenever he was here, she was inseparable from him. When he was gone they both acted like nothing had ever happed, and Kai would go out and get with as many girls as possible.

"Oh… yeah. Probably." Cliff said quietly. Cliff and I had become pretty close since he had come to Mineral Town last winter. He didn't say much, which I really enjoyed, and when he did talk it was always stuff I didn't mind talking about. He usually needed advice which I didn't mind giving him. I certainly could tell when something was on his mind at this point of knowing each other.

"What's up with you, man?" I sat up and turned my direction towards him, "You seem a little off today." He fidgeted a little and looked down at his hands.

"It's just Ann again," he sighed. As long as I'd known Cliff he'd had the biggest thing for Ann, the Inn Keeper's daughter. It was obvious she returned his feelings; they were both just too hard headed to really act upon it. That didn't stop them from arguing as if they had been together though. "She thinks I have a thing for Claire, when I definitely don't. Ugh so frustrating." My brow slightly twitched at the sound of her name. Was it possible to go one day without hearing someone talk about her?

"And why does Ann think that." I said flatly, not really interested in the subject now that Claire was involved.

"Just 'cause when ever Claire comes to see Ann, Ann thinks she's flirting with me whenever Claire tries to talk to me. She gets really self conscious like that all the time. Claire's just being nice…" He trailed off, eyes panning across the room.

"Maybe she'sdoing it on purpose." I said.

"Huh? Claire?" Cliff turned his head towards me again.

"Yeah. I mean… She kinda is a little shady if you ask me. I wouldn't doubt it." Cliff laughed a little.

"Are we talking about the same Claire?" Cliff asked skeptically. "She's pretty much one of the nicest girls I know." I rolled my eyes. Was I the only one who saw through her whole 'goody-two-shoes' act?

"She's fake. Trust me; she's just like every other blonde haired blue eyed girl in the city." I'd come across way too many girls in my days living in the city to not know better. They create this false persona of being sweet and innocent, but deep down they're just trouble.

"What do you have against Claire?" Cliff said as he raised an eyebrow, "I mean Gray she really is a nice girl. She practically just moved in-"

"Yeah, Cliff a season ago." I interrupted him. "I don't see the big deal. I've met her, talked to her, the whole hubbub. She's really not all that great; in fact she's actually unbelievably annoying."

"Gray, she's still new. You just haven't gotten used to her yet. I mean she's just trying to make friends here. You can't just exclude her from your life… you barely know her." I didn't have time for an insightful chat with Cliff. I was tiered, and most of all tiered of talking about Claire.

"I know her enough to know that I don't want anything to do with her." I spat. Cliff just sighed and rolled his eyes. And with that I lied down in my bed, facing away from my roommate, and waited to doze off.


	2. Routine

**((Well fast update I'd say haha. Before I had even posted the first chapter I had already begun the second chapter, and soon enough it was done… haha. I wouldn't expect ALL my updates to be within like 4 days of each other—especially considering chapter three isn't even a fourth finished ha—'cause I am still in school, I play very competitive club volleyball, and I work. But I'm not complaining, and I definitely will be trying my hardest to satisfy all :)**

**I'm also glad I didn't get any death threats for Gray hating Claire haha… Definitely wasn't expecting the awesome feedback I got. Thanks everyone, you're awesome))**

Chapter 2

I awoke the next morning to the suns rays shinning right into my eyes. That had become my indicator that it was time to get up and get ready for work. I had gotten used to it by now. I would sit up in bed, yawn, dread getting up, lay back down, and after lying there groggily for a few minutes I'd finally get up and shower. After I had finished my routine it was always about 7:10, and soon after I'd begin my commute to the Blacksmith.

As I exited the Inn the warm summer breeze greeted me. I looked up at the sky overhead; there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was going to be so hot today, which meant lots of time inside. I looked back down and the cobble stone roads and continued on my way to work. Ever since summer rolled along the days have gotten hotter and longer, and that just wasn't really my thing. Autumn was by far the best season, here at least. It was the closest thing to perfect. As I got to the blacksmith's turn in the road I stopped. Somehow I couldn't help but look father along the road.

It was Claire's farm. From what I had remembered, that farm had been abandoned a number of years before I even arrived. I had looked at it once or twice prior to Claire taking it over, and honestly it was quite a piece of work to say the least. The field was horribly messy and uncared for, the animal barns were shabby and rundown, even the house was quite neglected. I hadn't seen it since Claire had bought it though, I mean it wouldn't hurt to take one peak.

I turned on my heels and headed towards her farm, in disbelief I was actually going to show up randomly at Claire's farm. The same thought played over and over in my head, why do I **care**? Regardless, I ended up on the entrance to that girl's farm taking in what was before me. Eh, I mean she definitely had fixed it up. Straight in my field of view was the once cluttered field. It was now practically spotless and she had several rows of blooming crops. Everything else around the farm even looked nicer too; the grass around the estate was green and flourishing, the barns had been restored to their former glory, and even the house looked like it had been fixed up. I wasn't exactly impressed but I'll give her props for making something out of this dump.

After standing at the entrance to her farm for Goddess knows how long, I realized I was going to be late for work. Cursing myself in my head, I turned and rushed in the direction of the Blacksmith. I can't believe how stupid that was of me, why did I even bother to take time and look? Considering I didn't even like the girl, there would be no reason I care about her work. These same thoughts played over and over as I pushed open the doors of the Blacksmith. I cringed a little, getting ready for the verbal stabs I was about to take from my grandfather.

"Please explain to me why you were ten minutes late, Gray." My grandfather said with a hint of rage in voice. "You know perfectly well that that is unacceptable." It was time for me to think of an excuse, I wasn't just going to tell him I was creeping on Claire's farm.

"Uh… well…" I started, searching my brain for an answer. "Cliff had an asthma attack this morning. I had to take him to the Clinic. I'm sorry for trying to do a good deed every once and awhile, Gramps." Perfect. I wanted to just smugly smile to myself and bask in the glory of my made up excuse. Instead, I walked to the back of the shop and began my work for the day.

"Hmm… Did he now?" He said as he raised an eyebrow. "I never knew that boy had asthma… poor kid."

"Yea neither did we." I lied. I was going to have to explain this to Cliff later.

Hours passed, and my eyes couldn't help being glued to the clock. It felt time was almost going backwards. But finally, one o'clock rolled around and I set my project aside for another day. My grandpa gave me a subtle wave as I, almost a little too eagerly, rushed out of the shop. I couldn't help it though; it was my favorite time of the day. It was time to go to the library.

The library was the one place I had in this town for tranquility. No matter what was going anywhere else, I could go to the library and be at complete ease with everything. It was quiet, serene, and most importantly it's where Mary worked.

When anyone, even I, tried to explain Mary and my relationship, it wasn't an easy task. Of course there were feelings involved from both parties, but we didn't really act upon it that frequently. We went to festivals together, saw each other practically everyday, but we still we're officially together. I liked spending time with her. Mary was beyond pretty, she was the nicest girl I'd met, and she was the only person in this village I could be myself around. Everyone saw me as rude, unfriendly, and sarcastic; but even if that was true that's not how Mary saw me. She knew exactly how to bring out the best in me, and I liked having someone who understood me.

I pushed open the heavy door to the library, awaiting Mary to greet me. I looked over to her desk on the other side of the room. She looked up and gave me the sweetest smile.

"Happy Monday, Gray." She said, still smiling. "How are you today?" I couldn't help but to return the smile.

"Hey… I'm pretty good." I said. "What are you up to today?" I walked over to her desk and leaned over her shoulder to get a better look at her work. She blushed and abruptly positioned her arms over the papers.

"Oh! Uh it's nothing you know!" She said quickly. "Just some uh… research about the flora up near Mother's Hill… father's thinking about cross-breeding and stuff." I had known Mary long enough to know she was lying. I smirked.

"Mmhmm really?" I asked. "So you wouldn't mind if I looked right?" I reached for the papers under her arms, and almost as fast as light she slapped my hand away.

"No Gray, please." She begged, "I just don't want you to read it." I stood there bewildered and just a little hurt. She must have noticed the disappointed look upon my face because she spoke up again. "It's not like that, Gray. It's just not done… I don't want anyone to see it yet."

I gripped my hat and pulled it down barely over my eye, "Okay." I said flatly. She frowned and hung her head. It was still apparent to her that I still wasn't happy with her protest. "I'm gonna go get a book or something."

"Okay…" she said softly, "let me know if you need any help." I nodded and walked off to the back of the library.

We spend the remainder of our time together in complete silence. Occasionally we'd both glance at each other, but it was the same thing each time. I would look over at her, to see her looking at me. Then we'd look away almost as fast, holding back what we really wanted to say. Don't get me wrong, I like Mary a lot, she's my ideal girl. Though sometimes she gets under my skin and I just don't know how to react. Everything is so foreign to me when it comes to Mary, but I guess I liked it. She wasn't predictable like all the other girls.

All the other girls just like Claire. You knew exactly what was going in their head at all times. Girls like her were just too predictable. It was sad, because I had just met the girl and I already knew so much about her. My main concern of course, was why I let her wander into my thoughts so frequently. It wasn't like I was fantasizing about this girl or anything. That would be some sort of joke or something. I did find myself thinking about those little things she always did that infuriated me, though. Things like that stupid awkward smile of hers, or her stupid little remarks, or even her voice. I don't think there was really anything I liked about Claire. Well she was easy on the eyes, I definitely wasn't complaining about any physical aspect of this girl, but everything else about her just threw it all off.

I had been in complete deep thought for a long while now, and before I knew it a noiseless Marry had crept up behind me. It took awhile for her tapping on my shoulder to register in my head, but soon enough I turned around to meet her steady gaze.

"Umm Gray…" She started a little shakily, "I'm closing the library now…"

"Why so early?" I questioned. She raised a thin eyebrow.

"Early…? It's 4:14." She said. How long had I been sitting back there thinking?

"Oh. Yea of course, Sorry Mare," She looked up at me and smiled.

"It's fine, I like having you around." She said as I got up and headed for the door. I pulled my hat down a little to hide my now blushing face.

"Yea no prob…" I said.

"So I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked a little too eagerly. I nodded and pushed exited the building.

Later that night I found myself at the Inn's bar with my two roommates, Rick and Karen, and all the other bar regulars. As usual, Kai and Karen were going hard enough for all of us. They were shooting down shot after shot, not really slowing down for anything else. I did of course take part in a few of the rounds, and to no surprise Cliff and Rick were not.

"You know Karen…" Rick started hesitantly, reaching out for the brunette, "maybe you should take it easier." She quickly turned to face him, giving him a look that could kill.

"Are you imply…ing that I'm an alcoholic?" Karen slurred as she pointed an accusing finger at Rick. "'Cause I'm know I'm not… wait…never mind."

"Okay Karen… what ever you think is okay." Rick said softly. He turned and whispered to us. "I think I'm going to take her home now" We nodded as Karen was dragged away by a helpless Rick.

I felt bad for the guy, he and Karen had been officially together-on and off-for quite sometime now, even before I had moved to town, and they had one of the most awkward relationships. It was quite apparent Karen was the one who wore the pants.

"Come on Gray," Kai spoke up with a grin. "You need to lighten up man. Take a few more shots!" It was very obvious Kai knew how to hold his alcohol significantly better than Karen did.

I lifted my mug of beer, which was still half full, signaling I was good. He just shot me a disapproving glare.

"If I wanted to drink with a party pooper I would be sitting next to Cliff now wouldn't I?" Kai said with a smile.

"Hey!" Cliff snapped. "I just have better things to do than get drunk."

"Okay whatever you say, Cliff." Kai chuckled. He turned to me and pushed another shot in my direction. "Gray… Come on. You only live once!" I raised an eyebrow. After a few seconds I caved in and picked up the glass.

"Yeah and if we keep this up we won't be living for much longer." I joked. We both threw the drink back and slammed the glass back on the table.

"Good kid," Kai said. The effects of the alcohol were becoming more and more apparent in him.

A few moments later, the bell above the door chimed signaling someone had entered. Now usually who enters the Inn doesn't really spike an interest in me, but after several slaps on my arm in attempt to get my attention I was forced by a very drunk Kai to look. And of all people, it was Claire.

"Gray… who is that?" Kai asked, now very interested. I rolled my eyes.

"Claire. She's the farmer who took that old dump." I said.

"You don't say." Kai smiled a mischievous smile and turned back to me. "Is anyone hitting that yet?" Cliff and I couldn't help but laugh at his choice of words.

"Not that I know of." Cliff spoke up.

"Well you're looking at him." Kai winked. He faced his attention to the blonde and began waving her over. She shot him a questioning look but complied and began walking over, just my luck. I turned away to Cliff as Kai began to spark up conversation with her.

"Um hi do I know you?" She asked warily. He just smiled.

"I'm Kai; I work at the Snack Shack here during summers." He said. "I was over here thinking I knew all the beautiful girls in this town, but I guess I missed one. What's your name babe?" She laughed very nervously.

"Oh…I'm Claire," she glanced around the Inn a few times, and brought her attention back to Kai. "You don't know where I can find Ann do you? I have some crops I need to deliver to her."

"If Ann is what you're looking for… I can be Ann." Kai said. It was now completely evident that he was drunk. Claire started to inch away.

"Oh that's nice of you…" she said with a plastered smile. "Umm Cliff, you wouldn't know would you?"

"Check the back." Cliff said. Claire silently thanked him as she walked into the backroom. Kai's eyes stayed glued as she disappeared.

"Damn…" He slurred, turning to Cliff and me. "She's almost as good looking from behind as she is from the front." I just shook my head and glanced over to Cliff. I could tell by his answering look that we were both thinking the same thing.

"Hey Kai… I think its time we went to bed." Cliff said as he got up from his seat. I followed his lead and walked to the opposite side of Kai.

"You're such a party pooper, Cliff." Kai pouted. "I'm not even drunk yet."

"You're far beyond drunk." I said. Cliff and I both pulled Kai up by the arms and began dragging him upstairs to the room. Of course he attempted to put up a struggle, but it was completely futile.

Soon enough, we were able to force Kai up the flight of stairs, and into the bedroom. He flopped down on the bed face first and began mumbling into his pillow. Cliff and I looked at each other again, unable to understand the intoxicated man before us.

"Watch me." He said groggily. "I'm gonna get with her before summer ends. I bet you." I ignored the man's rambling and headed over to my bed. I was tiered listening to all this.

"Okay, Kai." Cliff said with a laugh. "You should probably go to bed now."

"Mmhmm okay…" Kai murmured as he dozed off. Thank god for it too. I was finally able to lay my head down in hopes of sleep before my inevitable hangover tomorrow.


	3. Moving On

**((Hey everyone :) I really apologize for the very extended wait on this chapter! I had two very important volleyball qualifiers in back to back weekends (which I really use as writing time) and school's just been crazy. So I will try to update the next one asap :) Because I made you wait so long I tried to make this chapter a little longer to give ya'll a little something.. Mary haters will probably enjoy this chap...haha**

**And to people wondering if I'm going to end up changing pov's (i forget who asked), I probably won't. It's a possibility... but I was MAINLY planning on doing the whole story from Gray's point of view. But it's possible I'll change. ****I also know Claire kinda seems completely out of the story right now... but trust me its all for special reasons. You'll be seeing a LOT more of her to come... ;)**

**Enjoy :)**

_I don't own Harvest Moon, or any related ideas or characters. _

**Chapter 3**

That particular unruffled morning I found myself at the peak of Mothers Hill, awaiting the sunrise. There was nowhere else in Mineral Town that compare to the tranquility of this one spot. I could care less about the cool breeze wafting through the air, the view made up entirely for the rather cold weather. I would come here every week regardless of the weather just to sit and think. It was the paramount because this spot was beautiful, and no one ever came up here and interrupted my thoughts.

Today, my thoughts were focused on the quiet librarian I thought I was maybe in a kind of unofficial relationship with. Honestly, I couldn't tell you. Sometimes I could barely reassure myself that Mary and I even had something. One day she'd be totally infatuated with me, and the next she'd be completely distant. She'd act as if I was just another customer at the library. Maybe she was trying the play hard to get or something, but I was tiered of her games. I wanted a steady and wholesome relationship with this girl, but this whole thing was starting to get irritating. I just couldn't wrap my head around this. I asked her to all the festivals, gave her cookies on Thanksgiving, and did basically everything else a good boyfriend would do for their girl. And yet, she still didn't hesitate to play games with me.

As I started my descent down the mountain I began to think about our relationship. Was whatever we had even worth it in the end? Could I see myself with Mary in the next couple years, or even with her for the rest of my life? All these questions seemed completely relevant, but made me doubt whatever I had with this girl. It was obvious we didn't want the same things out of this relationship.

My brain had a lot to process before I could come to a consensus, which really meant I had to find something to take my mind off this thought. Though the Blacksmith was closed on Thursdays I figured I could get ahead of my work by coming in anyway. I smiled contently to myself. What a great idea I had just thought of, Grandpa was going to be so proud of me.

So lost in thought, I almost forgot where to look where I was going. Before I knew it I had collided with, and seemingly knocked over, a smaller person. I looked down at the victim of my carelessness as she wiped the dirt off her jeans and shirt. Claire.

"Sorry." I said without any emotion. I wasn't in the mood to talk to her. She looked up at me, and an almost frightened look reappeared on her face.

"I-It's fine, don't worry," Claire said very quickly as she stood up. "I was just in a hurry…" What was up with this girl? I couldn't be that intimidating.

"Look I really didn't mean to knock you over… I wasn't really paying attention to-," I started.

"Really it's fine. I should get going," She quickly interrupted. And with that she hurried off.

I instantly began to feel horrible about myself. Had I really been that rude to Claire to the point where she had actually become scared of me? It was quite apparent to me, also to her and everyone else in the town, that I went out of my way to avoid her. I also wasn't the nicest when we did interact. Maybe she was just intimidated by my glares, but that was just the way my face looked like neutrally. I guess I didn't really hate her, sure she annoyed me, but I would never purposely try to make someone think I was completely unapproachable. But I guess that was what I had ultimately accomplished.

The rest of the day rolled on I filled my day with things in an attempt to keep my mind off of Mary, and now Claire. I spent almost too much time tinkering around with projects at the Blacksmith. After about two hours in I began to solely look for ways to waste my time.

After I had finally found ways to waste a few hours I made my way over to the in for dinner. All that doing nothing had really made me work up an appetite. I pushed opened the doors and found my usual seat next to Kai and Cliff. It had appeared they had just gotten there a few minutes prior to my arrival.

"What up man?" Kai said with his signature smile. "Where were you all day?"

"You know," I replied, "Just some important blacksmith training as usual," He nodded and took another sip. I looked over at Cliff. He had an unusual expressionless look plastered on his face. He looked over at met my staring glance.

"Uh hey Gray. What's up?" He said softly.

"Same old… better question is what's up with you?" I said as I shot him a questioning glance. I hadn't seen him looking this down since he first had moved to the town.

"Nothing I'm fine." Cliff quickly remarked. I rolled my eyes.

"You're easier to read than a book, man," I said, "Something up at the winery? Or with…" I looked around to make sure the redheaded waitress wasn't around, "Ann?"

"Well…" Cliff began.

"I'll take that as a yes," Kai chimed up with a smirk. Cliff blushed a dark red, indicating Kai had hit it dead on.

"What's it this time?" I asked Cliff.

"I don't even know!" He said frustrated. "She's mad at me again, for no apparent reason. If I knew what I did, I would tell you. But seriously, this girl is driving me nuts."

"Are you still gonna ask her to the Fireworks Festival?" Kai asked.

"If she decides I'm allowed to talk to her… yeah sure." Cliff said.

"I know how you feel man," I said as I placed my hand on Cliff's shoulder. "I wish I understood women."

"Why what's up with you and Mary?" he said back.

"I think I'm going to break it off with her." Both men looked at me shocked as I said that.

"What?" Cliff said, "Why would you do that?"

"She's playing games, and I don't want to keep going 'cause I know I'll get hurt. It's not worth it." I said, but it almost felt heartbreaking to hear it out loud.

"Well if you're going to be a free man, who're you gonna be gettin' at next?" Kai said with a wink. Typical Kai, it was almost humorous.

"Ha, I don't know. Maybe I'll get at Popuri," I said with a joking smile, "It seems like you had found a new fascination this summer… I wouldn't want Popuri getting lonely." Kai glared at me as our dinner was placed in front of us by Doug, the innkeeper. Cliff and I began to dig in.

"Popuri is and always will be mine dude; she's like my main squeeze." He raised his finger as he explained to me, "Claire, she's like the new girl. I wouldn't mind getting at that, but I wouldn't start anything with her. And I wouldn't tell Popuri about it either."

"You never fail to disgust me, Kai." I said shaking my head. "How do you treat women with so much disrespect?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh whatever Gray, you can't sit here and lie to me. You know you've hit and quit before. You're just as bad as me." Kai argued, a smile growing on his arrogant face.

"I'm not nearly as bad as you," I scoffed. He took a bite of his food and ignored the conversation.

"So anyways onto a better topic, I think I'm gonna have a lil' get together tonight at the Snack Shack." He said with food still in his mouth, "You know just a little kick back with some of the friends. You guys should come tonight."

"Yea sure I'll be there," I said. I turned to meet glances with Cliff, who shrugged.

"Okay, guess it wouldn't hurt." Cliff said. It was surprising considering he wasn't usually the one to drink. I found that the most contradictory though considering he worked at a winery and was provided with discounts on alcohol.

"Can I invite Mary?" I asked. Both the men I was sitting with turned their heads to give me a disapproving look.

"Oh you mean the one you're ending it with?" Kai said sarcastically, "_Why_?" The man really did have a point. It just felt weird doing anything without her.

"I dunno… just feels like I should at least invite her," I said.

"Yea… I mean whatever man if you want to its chill. She probably won't want to so don't even sweat." Kai replied. He did have a point. Mary definitely wasn't the type to drink, let alone party. Plus, it was very apparent Kai wasn't her favorite in town.

Time passed as I chatted with my two roommates over dinner. Secretly though, I was waiting for the librarian to come to the inn so I could ask her to come tonight. Deep down I knew she would say no, I just know Mary, but part of me was hoping she'd give in for some reason and come tonight. Truth was, I didn't want to end it. I wanted her to go so we could go and hang out with our friends as a couple like normal people. Being the smart man I am, I really knew it would just be easier to end it if I was drunk.

After awhile, I saw Mary and her family arrive at the Inn for dinner as usual. At that exact moment I jumped up and ran over to her.

"Oh hey Gray," Mary said with a smile.

"Hey, what's up?" I said. She waved over to her parents, signaling for them to sit down without her.

"You know… dinner as usual."

"Oh yea ha… Well anyways, Kai's having a little get together at the shack tonight. You oughta come." I said pulling down my cap to cover my face a little.

"Oh…" She started. Her face looked disgusted, like she was offended that I'd even ask her such a question. "And why would I do that?"

"To hang out with me and our friends… Together, you know?" I said.

"You know very well I don't like Kai. Why would I want to go to an insignificant little party that _he_'s having?" She spat. Someone switched over to bitch mode all of a sudden.

"Calm your shit Marry, I was just asking." She crossed her arms and scowled.

"Goddess Gray, you don't have to be so rude." Mary started, "You know for a fact I can't stand Kai, or drinking. So why would you even waste your time asking me?"

"You're right Mary. Why do I waste my time with you?" I said as I turned to walk away, but she grabbed my wrist and stopped me.

"What is with you?" She asked, "You have an attitude like no other today!"

"I'm just fed up with you! All you do is play games and it finally hit me that I was right." I said as I pulled my wrist away. I started to walk away.

"Right about what, Gray?" She asked condescendingly.

"That I should have nothing to do with you." I said. I continued walking back over to the table with my roommates, not even wasting time to look back. When I arrived and sat down, both men looked at me wild-eyed. I just started eating again.

"That was a scene." Cliff said, obviously dumbfounded. I shrugged.

"She'll get over it," I said as I finished the last bite of my food.

"I don't know bro… She looks really upset." Kai said.

"Okay. Let her be upset." I got up out of my seat and turned around. "I'll see you guys later, okay?"

"Hey you're coming still right?" Kai asked.

"Yea, of course." I said, and continued up to the room. I needed time to think about what I just did and what I was going to do now.

It was around twelve o'clock, and I was still laying in bed thinking about everything that had gone on today. I had gone a few hours without talking to anyone, including my roommates. But that quickly changed when Cliff made his way through the door. He did a double take and came over to me.

"I thought you disappeared," he said with a chuckle. I returned with a slight smile. He started walking over to his dresser on the opposite side of the room. "You're still coming tonight, right?"

"Yea definitely," I got up and grabbed my cap off the bedside table. "I'm not going to let some girl get me down." He pulled a brown leather jacket around his body as he turned to me with a laugh.

"Good, I'm happy for you." Cliff said zipping up the jacket.

"It's on to the next one." I said joking. I grabbed my tan jacket off the floor and swung it around my body.

"Hmm. Okay Kai, can we go now?" He said sarcastically. I just laughed and followed him out of the inn and down to the beach.

When we arrived at the shack it was a pretty calm atmosphere, actually. There was music playing faintly in the background, and a few people softly chatting at an assortment of different places around the small shop. Basically it was exactly the same as if we were at the Inn, with an exception of all the elders you encountered at the bar. Only the young adults, or most of them, were here of course. There were some people I had never seen before though, probably people from neighboring villages. In total, there were probably around 13 people including Cliff and I, which was plenty enough considering the space of the shack.

Cliff and I stayed together as we moseyed our way to where Kai and a few other women were sitting around talking. Of course there was Popuri, fawning all over Kai as usual. Joined by them were two girls I had never seen. One had bright blonde curly locks, piercing green eyes, and wore a very revealing cocktail dress. The other was a casually dressed brunette with a very high pony tail and deep violet eyes. They both were also laughing a little too hard at everything the ladies man had to say. After a few minutes Kai finally realized Cliff and I awkwardly standing before him.

"Oh hey guys!" Kai said with a slight slur in his voice. "Nice of ya'll to show up. There's drinks behind the counter, just help yourself!" And with that he turned back to his eager women.

Cliff and I walked over to the counter and poured drinks. We stayed there leaning up against the bar in silence for awhile, just drinking. We both poured more and more drinks in dead silence, but in almost complete understanding of each other. I had no idea what Cliff had been thinking about. Of course it was probably Ann related, but I had no intentions of asking about what was going on between them; I had my own relationships to deal with. To take my mind off everything I began scanning the room, in some way I think I was secretly hoping I'd see Mary. But I happened to see someone completely different.

In the back corner of the shack I saw the blonde farmer I had run into today. She was sitting at one of the shop's tables as a very intoxicated Karen and her watch-dog, Rick, made conversation. I kept my eyes glued to the table and they carried out the conversation. Karen kept swaying side to side with her empty drink in one hand, the other around Rick's shoulder. I ended up catching the end of their conversation.

"Claireeeeeeee," Karen slured, "You know we'd hate to leave you here all alone and by yourself…" Claire simply smiled.

"It's fine Karen!" Claire said brightly, "You need to go home and sleep. I can make it home alone later."

"Hmmph. Okay if you say so," Karen said resting her head on Ricks shoulder, "Can we go pleeeease?"

"Really, Claire," Rick butted in, "I don't want you to have to walk home alone tonight, especially if you've been drinking. There are wild animals out there, and possibly even creepers!"

"Rick, I'm a big girl. I can handle alcohol, and myself. So don't worry." She said with a laugh. "Now take that one home before she passes out." Rick wearily nodded and began walking Karen of Kai's shack.

Claire examined the drink on the table in front of her, with almost a frown on her face. Maybe it was the alcohol in me, but for some reason I really wanted to go over to her and just sit with her. It was probably because I really wanted to find out the reason behind our strange run in today. I turned around to the counter and filled up my drink. Cliff eyed me very slowly as I did this. I just looked up at him and met his questioning gaze.

"I'm gonna go talk to Claire." I said a little disoriented.

"The one you spend countless hours trash-talking?" He questioned disapprovingly.

"I think we're talking about the same person." I said. Cliff rolled his eyes.

"Gray you're drunk. Let's go."

"No Cliff, don't be a buzz kill. I'm fine. And I'm gonna go talk to Claire." I said with a glare as I turned and stumbled over to the blonde farmer. I almost forgot how hard it was to walk when you were drunk.

"Hey Claire," I said. The girl looked up at me very shocked. I took the seat across from her.

"Hi Gray." She said slowly. "Do you need something?"

"I just wanted to talk to you." I said. The alcohol was really starting to kick in. "Something wrong with that?"

"Yea… I thought you hated me." Claire said, not making eye contact with me. Drunk Gray looked at Claire with a shocked face.

"What? Of course not!" I said, almost offended. "We just never talk. You hate me, you ran off today super fast,"

"I don't hate you, Gray," She said with a laugh, "I'm not good at people…ha that's a weird way to put it. I'm not really good at making friends I guess is a better way to put it." She must have been slightly drunk too, because by now she was just rambling.

Now Drunk Gray must have been talking when I replied to the blonde's comment, because no way in hell would I have come back with this sort of remark to Claire while I was sober.

"We can be friends." I said. She looked at me in disbelief, he bright blue eyes widened. I had really never noticed how pretty she really was. She didn't at all seem like the gruff farm girl she made herself out to be. Easily she could have been one of those common attractive city girls, but I guess that wasn't her. It had hit me that there was a lot to this girl that was a mystery, and I hadn't taken the time to get to know her because when I was sober something made me hate her.

"Definitely. I'd like that, thank you," Claire said flashing me a grin that usually would annoy me.

The rest of the night was a blur to me. All of what I could remember involved talking with Claire a long portion of the night, but after that my mind went black. The only thing I did know for sure, was that I was going to have one killer of a hang over the next morning.


	4. The Day After

**(( Hey everybody :) It's a little bit of a short chapter, but I worked my freaking butt off trying to update a lot more fast this time around. I'm trully sorry for the long wait last time, and I'll work my hardest to keep consistant on my updates :) You reveiwers out there really modivate me :) Catching my mistake and and all that jazz, you guys rock. I'm not going to sit here and beg for reveiws, I mean I'm just not going to not write because of not enough reveiws... thats just not fair to readers. If you want to reveiw, you know give me advice, tell me if you spot grammer mistakes, tell me what you think about the story, awesome thats helpful. If not, thank you for reading :) **

**Anyways, I just wanted to say that this chapter(and part of the last) are MUY importante. Just sayin :)**

**Thanks for reading :3 ))**

_I do not own Harvest Moon, or any related characters, ideas, etc._

**Chapter 4**

After warmth around my body had quickly left, followed by very much scurrying around within our room, and one very loud door slam, I was groggily awakened from my deep sleep. I lifted my head and looked around the empty room, then looked down; my comforter had fallen off. I placed the blame on too much tossing and turning. My head was throbbing, I had no clue where my clothes were, and I was probably late for work. Only one question was on my mind, and it probably wasn't going to get answered anytime soon.

"What the hell happened last night…?" I whispered to myself as I dramatically dragged myself out of bed and into a cold shower.

I tried playing back all that I could recall from last nights passed events. I remembered my argument with Mary prior to the party, which was almost a little too vivid. Other faint things I remembered were talking to Kai, drinking with Cliff, and… talking with Claire? I had to splash cold water on my face to wake myself up. Had I really been with Claire last night? That just didn't make sense; we barely even talked let alone hung out at parties together. Of course, my view of this girl had gotten a little more open, but I sure as hell wasn't anywhere close to becoming buddies with her.

After taking more time to think in hopes of recollection of what happened last night, I finally stepped out of the cold water and dried off. I grabbed my work clothes I had laid out from off my bed and dressed myself. A few minutes later I grabbed my cap off the bedside table and made my way down stairs for breakfast.

I scanned the Inn's dinning room in search of any of my roommates; I wanted to know if they knew anything regarding last night, and I wasn't really up for eating alone this morning. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Cliff sitting at a table on the other side of the room, and of course Ann was standing there flirting away. I hated to interrupt the love-fest but it had to be done.

"Y-yea I mean we could hang out tonight if you'd like. If you can get tonight off, of course. Just do what you can, its okay if you can't Ann, really," Cliff rambled on to Ann as I sat down. He turned over and looked at me, "Morning sleepy head. How do you feel?"

"Feels like I broke a couple cinderblocks with my head, but other than that I guess I'm just dandy," I said sarcastically, "What time is it?"

"It's nine in the morning. Don't worry you've got time to eat. You should probably drink some coffee too…" Cliff said. I nodded, thankful that I would make it to work on time.

"What happened to you?" Ann questioned me, she was so oblivious.

"I just drank a little too much…" I said. Ann started laughing, I raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Do you not know how to handle your liquor?" Ann said, very bluntly I must say. Cliff and I exchanged puzzled glances.

"Oh and you do?" I asked the redhead, "Are you even of legal drinking age?"

"I'm twenty two, Gray. And my dad owns the bar so don't even question." She said proudly.

"Mmhmm, okay well now that that's sorted out give me breakfast," I said flatly.

"Gee, Gray. You really know how to sweet talk a girl," Ann said, "The usual?"

"Yea, and coffee please. Black," She scribbled down on her pad of paper and began walking away.

"Oh and Cliff," Ann said as she spun around, "I'll see what I can do about tonight," They both smiled as she sauntered to the kitchen. I turned to me awestruck roommate.

"So I take it things are better?" I asked.

"Yea I mean it's like we were never fighting to begin with." Cliff said with a laugh. "I want to make sure everything goes perfect for the Fireworks Festival though. It's crucial."

"Why? Are you gonna make her your girlfriend?" I teased Cliff. He just looked down and silently sipped his orange juice. "Oh… you actually are?"

"Well… I hope," Cliff said softly, "Do you think it's… stupid?"

"No of course not, sounds cool." Cliff didn't seem too reassured.

"So anyways, do you even remember what happened last night?" Cliff changed the subject.

"I mean I remember the beginning…" I started, "Did I really drink that much?"

"You were definitely going at it," he said, "So you really don't remember what you did last night?"

"Last thing I remember clearly was talking to Kai and those girls," I said in deep thought, "Did I really hang out with Claire last night?" Cliff's expression changed as quickly as I said the blonde's name. It was an unreadable look.

"Yeah… you did," Cliff said. His voice sounded uneasy.

"What's up with you, man?"

"You really don't know what happened last night?" Cliff asked, "Like nothing regarding Claire?"

"No Cliff, I don't know anything! That's why I'm waiting for you to tell me," I said. This was frustrating, what was the big deal.

"Well…" The brunette man in front of me started, "First you went off and sat with Claire for some obscure reason, because I could have sworn you hated her-"

"I don't _hate _her," I interrupted. Cliff raised an eyebrow at me and began speaking again.

"Anyways, so you went and hung out with her for awhile and it was weird 'cause I definitely thought you _disliked_ her. So I stuck around for awhile and chatted around with people just so I could keep an eye on you. You were pretty drunk," He paused and looked at me. I signaled for him to continue, "So waited for awhile, and then you came up to me with Claire and told me you were going to walk her home because you're such a good guy. You gave me a speech and everything."

"So that's it?" I asked much relived. He had given me the impression something catastrophic had happened. He shook his head slowly. "Well what else happened then?" He took a deep breath and looked straight at me.

"I don't think Claire made it home last night…"

"Wait what?" I asked. No words could describe how guilty I felt right now. I had made myself responsible for one person's life and I screwed that up. I put my palm up to my face. "Are you serious? Is she okay?"

"You would know better than I would," Cliff said.

"Huh?" I said dumbstruck, "What do you mean?"

"She was with you, Gray,"

"Yea I know, but what happened if she didn't make it home?" I asked. This guy wasn't making any sense to me. Cliff exhaled loudly and rolled his eyes.

"You are so stupid sometimes…" he said.

"Okay Cliff, I know I was responsible for her but I'm just asking a question!"

"You don't get it, Gray." Cliff said as he shook his head.

"I know so, fucking tell me Cliff,"

"Claire didn't make it home last night because she was with you, _here_," Cliff said. He grabbed his orange juice and took a very long sip.

"Wait…" I said as it all started to come together. That's when it hit me, "Did we…?" I didn't even need to ask the question, because based on the expression on Cliff's face I already knew the answer. My gut feeling went from guilty, to a feeling I can't even begin to fathom.

"Yep…" my roommate said. Everything finally made sense now, and truthfully I couldn't believe it.

"We…" I couldn't even bring myself to say it. Cliff opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get the words out Ann had set down our breakfast in front of us.

"You guys enjoy, okay!" Ann chirped. We both nodded in unison and quickly dug into our meals. She smiled, and made her way to another table. We stayed there eating in silence for a good ten minutes, until I decided to speak up again.

"Cliff, did I really…?"

"I don't know what else you want me to tell you," Cliff said. His voice got quieter, "You slept with Claire last night," I subconsciously knew by now, but hearing it out loud was a whole other story. I just shook my head at his words as they repeated over and over again in my head.

_"You slept with Claire."_

I barely knew the girl, rarely talked to her, and didn't even really care for her that much to begin with; yet, I had still had sex with her. That made me almost as low as Kai, maybe even worse. All I could do was shake my head and pretend nothing had happened. I simply stared down at my food, which was now growing cold, and poked it with my fork. My appetite began to dwindle as I thought more and more about what I'd done. Either I had drunkenly taken advantage of her, or for some reason she'd taken advantage of me. It had to be something along those lines.

"I should go talk to her," I said out of the blue, not really even directing my thought to Cliff.

"Well yea, that might be a good idea," Cliff replied anyway.

"Smart-ass," Cliff simply smirked in reply and finished eating. We both said our good-byes and went our separate ways to work.

After my arrival to work, the day proceeded on like usual. I worked on my various projects diligently, but yet I still managed to be slightly distracted by todays, or last nights, events. My eyes kept glancing over to the small ticking clock overhead. Every time I was to look for the time, it was only moving slower. I knew I had to go talk to Claire. The last thing I wanted was for her to get the wrong idea, about me and about what exactly happened between us. In all reality though, I had absolutely no idea in what I was going to say to her; I was almost starting to have second thoughts. Though no matter how much I clearly didn't favor this girl, I knew talking to her was ultimately the right thing to do.

"What's got you all time consciences, boy?" My grandfather spoke up after watching me religiously watching the clock. I didn't even look up from my work.

"Nothing."

"Do you have a date?" He asked, now amused. I scoffed at his stupid comment.

"That's the last thing on my to-do list," I replied.

"Is it Mary?" He teased.

"No. We're done," Saibara seemed interested now.

"Hmm, really now?" He mused, "Who's got you all distracted then? Is it that nice farmer girl?"

"No," I said. That's the last thing I wanted to hear.

"That's a darn shame. She really seemed like a sweet girl, very pretty too," He responded, "You never know, Gray. Maybe if you found a real girlfriend you'd stop being such a grump and get some work done," I simply grunted in response. I had no intention to discuss my love life with my grandfather.

After several more tedious hours silent work, it had finally reached the time I had been somewhat dreading, but strangely awaited. I said my goodbye to Gramps, and exited the shop. Once outside, I stopped. I had to think of what I was going to even say to Claire; I wasn't going to show up at her farm and be all, "Oh hey what's up, we had drunk sex. Let's talk about that," That was definitely a no-go. Then again, there wasn't much I really could say that wasn't completely awkward to bring up. I figured I'd just show up and wing it, it was better than nothing.

I made the short walk to Claire's farm in almost record time, but when I arrived my steps became slower and slower. I inspected the property in search of the blonde farmer. I hoped she was inside her house somewhere, because I felt insanely awkward right then. I shuffled over to the small home on the lot and knocked on its door. No response. I waited it out a few more minutes, still no response. She probably wasn't home. It was mid-day anyway, I wouldn't expect anything different.

"Gray…?" A soft voice asked from behind. I spun around to see Claire standing behind me. In one hand she held a fishing rod, the other a pail (which I was assuming was filled with fish she'd caught). Since the start of the summer Claire had become quite tan. She had the long sleeves of her plaid shirt rolled up, her damp hair messily down, and almost too short of shorts on; But it was summer, and I wasn't complaining.

"Oh hey, Claire," I said pulling down my cap, "Fancy seeing you here."

"Well this is my farm," She said with a slight laugh. "Where are my manners? Come in, I have to put these fish in my fridge," I nodded and followed Claire into her house.

It was a simple home. It almost a little too big for just one person, she must have had it added on to. There was the main room which contained a small couch and a chair, a TV, coffee table, bookshelf, and a few paintings hung on the walls. Attached to that off to the side was a kitchen/dinning room type area. Farther down the hall there were two doors, which I assumed were her bedroom and a bathroom. I sat down on small sofa in the middle of her living room as I waited for Claire to finish in the kitchen.

"So…" Claire said as she made her way back into the living room. She sat on the other side of the couch from me. We both looked at each other straight in the eye. This was going to be awkward.

"I wanna talk to you," I spoke up as I pulled my hat down a little, "Mainly about last night…"

"Yea me too…I—"

"Wait, just let me say something first," I interrupted her. She bit her lip and nodded. "First off, I'm sorry. I was drunk last night and I let it get the best of me. That's not who I am…" I took a deep breath and continued, "I don't want you to get the wrong impression from me… or what happened,"

"What do you mean?" Claire asked innocently. I felt like such a douche.

"That I was just trying to get some or trying to take advantage of you or something like that… and I don't want you to think that… well…"

"Well what?"

"Nothing just… I don't want you thinking we're like an… _item _I guess you could say. I just got out of a half ass relationship, you know the whole shebang," Claire laughed a little to herself a little.

"I mean… don't really worry about it," Claire said with a smile. She pushed some damp bangs from her face, "I mean it was a little careless of you but everyone makes mistakes," So she was implying it was all my wrong doing? Okay, two could play at this game.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up there. It was equally as much as your fault as it was mine," I said defensively, "I wasn't the only one who was drinking,"

"I didn't even drink _half _as much as you did, and you were definitely the one who was pushing it all night. I was just drunk enough to fall for it," Claire said with a hint of attitude.

"Oh psh, from what I remember you were _all over_ me the entire night, you were definitely asking for it," I countered back. She rolled her eyes.

"As if. If I had been sober it would have been a whole different story," She said. Ouch, low blow on that one. I smirked.

"Let's just remember whose bed you woke up in this morning," I said as I got up. She stood up and shot me a look that could kill.

"You're a dick you know that?" She said no really with anger, but more of a defeated tone.

"I'll see ya," I said, ignoring her remark. She grabbed my arm and pulled me back a little.

"Gray…" she said softly. I looked down at the blonde, puzzled by her action. "This is staying between us. I don't want people knowing I slept with you," Stupid girl. I just nodded and began walking out her door as her grip loosened.

After that day is when everything became flipped upside down.


	5. Sparks

**(( Thank you for all the reveiws guys :) means a lot! I'm sorry for the slow update, more tournaments ._. ha. I'll update asap next time :):)**

**This chapter was a little hard to push out, it's kinda a filler I guess you could say. I know, I know... barely no Claire in this chapter. But I will say this over and over, you will be seeing A LOT more of her as the story heats up. Patience :) This one has some important info in it but it's not nearly as important as the next ;) ahhh sometimes i just wish you all could see into my mind and know what was coming next... because I feel like some of you are going to be complete blindsided ;)**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter. :) thanks for reading))**

_I don't own harvest moon or any related ideas, themes, characters, etc. _

**Chapter 5**

To my great surprise, the events of the past week had gone and past discreetly without any talk from the villagers. Usually gossip that was as "scandalous" as this would be through the entire town within a matter of minutes, but either no one had spoken a word about it to the instigators of gossip or nobody really knew. I prayed to the Harvest Goddess that it was the second one. Everyone talking about the situation was the last thing I needed; I already had the town talking about Mary's and my very public argument. Was it possible for me to lay low for just a week? I didn't think so. Of course, just because the village wasn't talking about it didn't mean people didn't know about it. Sadly, I was very aware of the fact that my roommates knew the situation far better than I did. What was even worse was that Kai would never shut up about it. Claire and I both wanted to forget about it, but it was hard with Kai around sometimes.

This week flew by right before my eyes. I just kept to myself for the majority of the time and stuck to my daily routine of sleeping, eating, working, eating, and sleeping. It was pretty simple, but I mean I wasn't one to complain. I didn't like much attention anyway.

Before I knew it, my day at work was over. I set my project aside for the next day, and hung up all of my extra gear. After waving goodbye to my Grandpa, I shoved my hands in my pockets and left the Blacksmith. I paused for a second, looking both ways. There was plenty of time to spare before dinner at the Inn, why not take the scenic route home? I turned on my heels and started walking towards rose square.

It was still mid summer and it was only getting hotter. I turned my vision towards the beach off to the side. Diving into that seemed like such a good idea right then. Standing awkwardly in the middle of Rose Square, I contemplated whether to go swimming right then and there. Then again I didn't really want to look like a huge loner with no friends, because contrary to popular belief I did have friends. I figured air-conditioning at the Inn would be just as good. As I turned and made my way to the Inn, I finally realized what I was actually was doing.

I was trying to find something to replace the time I spent with Mary at the library.

And it was true; the whole week I had found myself wandering around aimlessly trying to fill the empty void. Everyday I was found in the library with Mary, everyday. And now that Mary was the last person I wanted to be found with, I wasn't going to be caught dead in that dusty old place. I didn't even like to read that much, not to mention all the books were ancient and falling apart. The only reason I went was to see her, and it had been that way ever since the day I met her.

_The bell chimed through the small shop as a young raven haired girl made her way through the door. I briefly looked up from my work. I had never seen her before, but I guess that was to be expected since I had only been here for three seasons. She was definitely easy on the eyes, kind of a classic pretty. Grandpa shot me a "get-back-to-work" glare and turned around to smile at our customer. I hadn't been working as a blacksmith for very long, so my grandfather always was really hard on me and never let me get side tracked. It got annoying sometimes but I guess it was to be expected. _

"_Welcome young lady, what can I help you with?" Grandpa asked the girl. _

"_Oh you guys upgraded a tool for me earlier this week," She said with a smile, pushing back her thick black lock, "It's a lot easier to use now, and I just thought it'd be very appropriate to come back and thank you personally," Grandpa smiled and bellowed a laugh. _

"_Why thank you, young lady! I didn't know it meant that much to you… I'm glad we were able to help you!" He replied, "You're always welcome to come back if you need anything else, okay?" She nodded and turned on her heels to leave. Not paying attention, I turned to grab the cooling ores I had set aside earlier. Let's just say they were no where close to being cool. _

"_Ouch! Shit!" I yelled dropping the metal on to the floor and blowing on my now burning hand. My Grandfather snapped his head back to see what the commotion was about. A very displeased look appeared on his face. _

"_Gray! What did you do?" He asked angrily. I sucked it up and managed to work out words in the calmest tone possible. _

"_Just a burn… It's fine," I said painfully. The girl looked at me with wide worried eyes. _

"_But you're starting to blister…" She started. _

"_It's my fault," Grandpa huffed, "He's new to all this, I should have been paying more attention to him," _

"_Really, it's fine!" I snapped. "Where's the first-aid?" My grandfather turned and rushed into the backroom. _

"_Stop that," The girl said sternly, "Here…" she grabbed my wrist and led me over to the sink in the corner. Fiddling with the sink knobs, she managed to turn on cool water. I shot her a questioning glance, she simply signaled for me to put my hands under the water. It actually felt a little better on my palms. _

"_You know, you don't have to put up the tough guy act in front of me," She said breaking the silence, "I know it hurts," I didn't know what to respond with. _

_A few minutes later Grandpa returned with a first-aid. The girl walked over and grabbed a gauze Band-Aid. She wrapped my wounded palms and smiled, satisfied with her work. _

"_There…Feel better?" She said with a sweet smile._

"_Yea… thanks…" I replied. _

"_I'm Mary by the way," _

"_Gray," _

"_Well I have to head back to the library, you should stop by sometime," She said as she waved to us both. "See you guys later!" _

"_I will... Bye…" I said, not even sure if she heard me. _

Everyday after that day, with an exception of birthdays and holidays, was spent at the library getting to know Mary. It was crazy how much she had changed in a course of three or so years. Once a genuine sweet, polite, and innocent girl had some how altered into some snotty, prissy know-it-all. It made me think. Had I been the reason she changed so drastically? For all I knew I was one of her only friends, besides Eli, and definitely the only guy she had had in her life. Regardless, I felt like I knew a lot about Mary. Of course, I did see her everyday for a number of hours, but considering the amount she talked to m e-or rather didn't talk to me-I was still able to find out almost everything about her.

On the other hand, I basically knew nothing about Claire. I had talked to her and even somehow managed to have sex with her, yet I really didn't know her. Earlier when I had first met her I definitely had thought I knew everything about her, though as I started to see her more and more, the less and less I actually knew about her. I will admit it, I did in fact judge her very harshly when she first arrived, but everyone knows I'm not the best with people. I almost felt bad that I barely knew Claire. It probably came off that I was some insensitive douche or something, and considering the way I had acted towards her I wouldn't deny it. Maybe one day I could show her I wasn't that guy, but we were barely even friends to begin with. Since when did I care so much about what Claire thought, a season ago she was basically dead to me? Feelings I couldn't begin to explain, or understand, were starting to overcome me, and I'm not sure how I felt about that.

I looked up at the bright blue sky, thoughts still floating around in my mind. Somehow, I had wasted a significant amount of time loitering around Rose Square. Little did I know that the entire time I was being gossiped about from the other side. I turned around to meet the steady gaze of Anna, Mary's mom. It was frightening to say the least. The rest of the women turned and stared at me. This was getting a little sketchy. I pulled my hat over my face and began walking towards the Inn.

"Oh Gray!" I head Manna, one of the owners of the town's winery, call. I turned around. "Please do come over for just a second, if you don't mind," I huffed and trudged my way over to the giddy women.

"Yea?" I asked flatly.

"How are you today?" She asked smiling, "It's such a beautiful day out, and I assume you're off work by now. It would be such a shame to let a day like this go to waste. Don't you agree? Especially since fall is going to be coming around soon…" One thing about Manna, she never knew when to shut up. This wasn't going to be a fun conversation.

"I'm fine." I said, "I'm kind of in a hurry… so is there something you need?"

"Oh yes, yes how could I forget," Manna said waving her hands about, "I just wanted to ask you something, which I hope isn't too forward. You know we don't really talk that much but I thought I might as well ask you. But-"

"Yes, what is it Manna?" I interrupted.

"Oh yes, of course how silly of me," She said, "So just wondering… is it true what I hear about you and Mary not being you know… and item anymore? It's just what I heard around town and you know you can never trust what you here around these parts, but stuff like that just travels around here like wildfire. And I just figured I'd ask cause I mean usually you'd be at the library this time of day and you're clearly not…" I huffed in response to her monologue.

"I guess we're not anymore," I said tugging on my hat, it hurt a little to think about. It must have been apparent in my face.

"Oh I'm so sorry, Gray. I didn't know it was such a rough subject for you, I feel horrible now. If you ever need to talk about anything you know where to find me," Yes, because if I wanted to talk to someone Manna would be the first person I'd go to. I just nodded politely as I turned to walk away.

As I continued walking away I could hear the chatting between the ladies pick up. I knew Manna just wanted to ask me that because Anna obviously wanted to know. Knowing Mary she wouldn't speak a word of it to her own mother. So Anna would have to take matters into her own hands. Well, it wasn't my problem anymore and I could care less who did or didn't know.

When I got to the Inn I searched through the few scattered people in the dim lit dinning room. It dinner time was in an hour, so of course not many people were flooding into the Inn just yet. I walked over to the bar counter. Ann was standing behind it, cleaning the tile surface. After a few minutes she finally met my gazed.

"Oh hey there, Gray," She said cheerfully as she flipped her long red braid over her shoulder, "Can I help you with something?"

"No, not really I'm not hungry yet," I said, "Do you know where Cliff is? He should be off work by now," I little blush overcame her tanned face.

"N-no, I haven't seen him yet, he might be out for a walk," She said softly, "I mean he might be upstairs in the room. I haven't been out here for very long,"

"Thanks…" I started, "How are you guys? Good?" Her face turned beet red as soon as the words came out of my mouth.

"Yea I mean I guess we are, you could say that…" She babbled.

"Are you two going to the fireworks festival tomorrow? You know, together?" I asked.

"I mean…I hope," She mumbled.

"He hasn't asked you?" I asked very surprised, "Are you serious?"

"Not exactly. He's just so shy around me!" She exclaimed, "Gray, I really like him. You know that, and he's just so shy around me sometimes!"

"You should just ask him," I said. Ann looked at me strangely, like as if what I said was completely unheard of.

"W-what?" she asked me, "It just doesn't work that way, Gray. Plus, he'd think it's weird if I did that, wouldn't he?"

"Nah, I'd think it's cool if a girl asked me,"

"Hmmm, I see," Ann said thoughtfully, "So now that Mary's out of the picture what lucky lady are you taking to the fireworks tomorrow?"

"Ha, if I even go," I scoffed, "Probably no one. I haven't gone to a festival single in awhile,"

"Gray!" She yelled, "You can't just not go to the festival; it doesn't work like that,"

"Uh, yea it does. I just stay at home instead of not going,"

"You have to go; you can hang out with Cliff and me!" Ann begged. I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"I'd love to be your third wheel," I said sarcastically. Ann put her hands on her hips and shot me a slight glare.

"Then stop being such a little girl and bring someone!" she said angrily.

"Like who? Karen's going with Rick, Elli's going with Trent, Popuri is going with Kai, you're going with Cliff, and Mary will probably just go with her parents; there's no one else,"

"Take Claire," She said simply.

"No,"

"Why not?" she asked with a frown, "She's so pretty, Gray. And nice, and funny and really easy going, you should just bring her. It's her first fireworks festival here, be nice!"

"We barely know each other," I said in protest.

"That's not what I hear," Ann said with a wink. I felt my eye begin to twitch as my body tensed up.

"W-what?" I said in complete shock.

"I know what happened, I'm not an idiot," Ann said mischievously.

"Fucking Cliff…" I mumbled angrily. "Don't you dare tell anyone!"

"I won't, I won't," She said waving her hands, "I'm probably Claire's closest friend here, and I wouldn't make her look bad. Especially if she's brand new here," "_She's been here a whole season and a half,"_ I wanted to say so badly, but I held it in and exhaled.

"Eh, I don't even know if I'm going," I said, "It's not fair to her. You can invite her along with you guys and if I show up I show up, but I'm not asking her," Ann rolled her eyes and huffed.

"You're so difficult," She said, "Watch, you could of totally been set up with one of the prettiest girls here before any other guys have a chance to swoop her up, but no,"

"Everyone here is basically taken," I grumbled, "Who else could possibly come 'swoop her up'?"

"Oooh, are you jealous? Ann said. Blush crept upon my face. "I mean, it's inevitable that she's going to get attention from guys in the neighboring towns… I mean they're not that far, basically walking distance,"

"I'm not jealous, just curious!" I said almost a little too loudly.

"Okay, well I'll see you at the festival tomorrow then," Ann said with a laugh.

"Wait… what?" I stuttered. She smiled mischievously. "Ann. I don't like her like that-"

"Ann!" Doug called from the other side of the bar. He shook his head in signal to get to work. She nodded her head and walked to the other side of the bar.

"Clean up nice, okay?" She said as she trotted away.

"Huh? I never said I was going…" I mumbled to myself. This almost scared me. Ann had something up her sleeve, and I'm not sure if I wanted to know what it was.


	6. The Start of Something

**(( I'm not dead! Just busy. :/ I'm sorry to everyone. I finally managed to get this chap out so hopefully I didn't loose all my reviewers ;-; haha. I left yall with a little cliff hanger there ;) I hope everyone is suprised (in a good way of course) by the direction I'm taking this in... you'll see. Now everyone will see what I meant by "there will be a lot more Claire to come just wait" ;)**

**Enjoy :) ))**

__I don't own harvest moon or any related ideas, themes, characters, etc. __

**Chapter 6**

For some reason I couldn't dare to fathom, I found myself stuck thinking about everything Ann had said to me yesterday. I couldn't shake off the feeling that she was trying to set me up with Claire, I was almost certain of it. And honestly, I didn't know what I thought about that. I'd just gotten out of… what ever that was with Mary, and I didn't even know how I felt about Claire. We were barely friends, let alone anywhere close to romantically involved, despite our _incident_. It could be that Ann knew something I didn't; she was pretty good friends with Claire and definitely talked to her significantly more than I did. Possibly Claire had some sort of attachment, crush, or whatever after that _night_ and now Ann was playing wingman. I had no way to be sure. Whatever it was, it was consuming my thoughts.

"Gray! What are you doing?" My head snapped up. I turned around to the man standing behind me. My grandpa stood a couple yards away in front of stairs he must have found. "Are you going to just stand there? We have work we need to do, boy!" I must have zoned out completely.

We had been in the mine since five this morning, and I had no clue what time it was now. It felt as if I had been dragged along this mining trip for days, but it probably had only been a couple hours. My grandpa had insisted on getting as far as we could in the mine in order to find more ores, jewels, minerals, or whatever we could find. He was persistent in his argument, saying we needed to occupy ourselves with more projects before summers end. According to my grandfather, fall and winter were the seasons with the least amount of business. To be real, I couldn't tell the difference, he was always yelling at me no matter which season it was.

Personally, I could care less about the amount of business, I loved winter. I loved snow, I loved the cold, and I loved the view of the town blanketed in the white powder from the top of Mother's Hill. Everything about winter was perfect; all of my fondest memories took place in the winter. Then again, almost all of those memories involved Mary, who I desperately wanted to forget.

I followed my grandpa down the stairs, as I descended the unsteady staircase I realized how tiered I really was. We had been down in the mine for so long that I had lost track of how many floors we'd traveled down, which had to be quite a lot of digging and hammering. Not to mention, _I_ had to be the one carrying all the jewels and minerals we mined. So of course I was bound to be a bit tiered.

"Are we almost done?" I wined. I was tiered, grumpy, and had no idea what time it was. What if I missed the festival? Ann would kill me.

"A little while longer, boy," Grandpa huffed, "Just until we fill that sack with a few more amethyst,"

"What about sapphire?" I asked. He raised an eye at my question.

"Ah yes I suppose… are you planning on working on a project or something?" He asked.

"U-uh no, I was just saying…" I began as my face turned red, "we probably need more variety in color," He nodded and carried on with his work, as I did too.

I proceeded to smash all the large boulders surrounding me in the small floor, and collect whatever lied inside. Usually it was nothing exciting; like a bronze ore, a junk ore, or even nothing. Though sometimes, we'd find really great jewels that normal people in the village didn't have the patience to even attempt search for. Blacksmith like my grandfather and I on the other hand, it was our specialty.

"So son, are you planning on attending the festival?" Grandpa asked from the other side of the mine room. I didn't even know myself, was I? Ann wanted me to go so bad, but I didn't know if I really wanted to go.

"Uhh… well maybe. It's a possibility," I said quietly.

"Are you taking a girl?" He asked.

"No… I just said I don't even know if I'm going. Why would I take a girl?" I groaned.

"You should take that nice farm girl," He said bluntly. "She's a very pretty girl, and I think she likes you. You might actually have a shot at her too," I don't know what that was supposed to mean, but I just simply rolled my eyes.

"I don't exactly want a shot at her, Gramps. We're friends," I said flatly as I continued my work. He huffed at my comment.

"Gray, you know you're getting older…" he started, "and it's getting around time that you started looking for a wife," I stopped dead in my tracks and immediately met the gaze of my grandfather.

"What?" I asked slightly taken back.

"Gray, you're in your mid twenties. It's about time you started settling down with a nice girl and starting a family. I'm not saying tomorrow, or in the next couple months, or even this year, but I'm just saying… there's not going to be many single girls your age around for much longer," He said. There was a long pause as we both carried eye contact with each other. "I'm not getting any younger you know?"

"I get what you're saying…" I said in understanding, "but now is just not the time for me to get involved with another girl, let alone meet them at a festival,"

"I understand," He said, "I just thought I'd say what was on my mind. Especially since I really think Claire would be a real nice girl for you,"

"Just drop it, okay?" I said quickly.

Silence ensued as we went back to our work. Time continued to pass as we continued on down the mine and mined more jewels. After about an hour passed the weight of all that we had mined became too strenuous to keep exploring the mine. I met gazes with my grandfather and he simply nodded. As I began following him up the stairs I realized I couldn't even remember how many floors we had even managed to travel down. That meant what ever number we had traveled down, I was going to have to climb up. I huffed loudly and continued following Grandpa.

After what felt like hours, we finally made it to the top floor of the mine. The light from the outside world shone through vividly. I always loved seeing this sight after a long morning in the deep mines. I slowly trudged out of the mine and into the pure, clean mid summer air. It was a nice feeling after breathing whatever was in the air in the mines.

I walked with my grandfather through the forest and up by the chicken farm. We silently made our way down the path to the Blacksmith. It was apparent that there was still an awkward atmosphere surrounding us. He reached for his keys and began to unlock the old door.

Why was he pushing me so hard to start a family? I was barely into the good years of my life, why would I try to ruin that by starting a family. Right now, being involved with a girl was the last thing I wanted. Being… well _in love_ was something I wanted to avoid. I'd never really been with another girl before besides Mary. My teen years weren't really my most proud of faithful years, and I was never involved with girls more than just hook ups. If all girls were like Mary, I was going to have a hard time finding a girl for my grandpa's "dream family" he wants me so desperately to have. It'd especially hard to settle if I'm being pushed to try to like some girl I barely know. It was like my grandpa knew nothing about me, or relationships.

"You can set those down right here, boy," Grandpa said, interrupting my thoughts. I snapped my head in his direction and carried the jewel filled rucksack to where my Grandpa had directed. "Thanks,"

"Welcome," I said as I walked over to my bench in the back.

"Gray," he said softly.

"What?"

"You're done for the day," He said flatly, "Leave,"

"Huh?" I asked bewilderedly.

"It's a holiday, go spend it with your friends," He said.

"Really Gramps, its fine I can stay…" I started.

"I'm not staying," Grandpa said with a hearty laugh, "I want to go to the festival like everybody else!"

"Oh ha, I see," I said with a smirk, "Then I guess I'll get out of your hair,"

"See you later, son," He said, "As in, you should go," I laughed to myself and waved as I left the shop.

I walked deliberately slow in order to think about what I was going to do. It was still barely one thirty; I had time to blow. Well, that is if I was planning on even going. Ann was going to be mad if I didn't, and I knew the minute I stepped into the Inn she'd be awaiting whatever I had to say. When Ann had her mind set on something, there was no stopping her whatsoever. And right now, I knew she was set on setting Claire and me up tonight. It wasn't a date. That's what I had told her several times. _She_ was the one inviting Claire, not me. All Ann did was ask both of us to come with her and Cliff. It would be just four people hanging out, helping the farmer make new friends, if I even decided to go.

I weighed out my options. I didn't want to get caught in an awkward sandwich while Ann and Cliff were making out while Claire and I were just staring in opposite directions, waiting for the night to end. Then again, the fireworks were very beautiful, and I hadn't missed a single one since I had come here when I was 18. On that note though, I had attended all them with Mary, and it was inevitable I would think about her while I was there. That made me think Mary was bound to see her. I hadn't really seen her, let alone talk to her since I ended it with her a few weeks back. There was the occasional gaze when we both ate on separate sides of the room of the Inn, but no stare lasted longer than a brief second and no words had been exchanged. Honestly, I mainly didn't want to attend tonight because of her. I didn't want to see her, hear her, talk to her, or even be in a five mile radius of her. It was possible that maybe going wasn't a great idea after all.

On the other hand though, maybe being with my friends and getting to know a different girl wouldn't be such a bad idea. Maybe I could use all the awkward moments to get to know her better, and be sober to remember it. Who knows, maybe we could become good friends and I could totally forget about Mary, in a perfect world of course. Though making an attempt wouldn't hurt. I felt like I owed it to the girl to at least get to know her better after so harshly judging her off a first impression, and after what happened a few weeks back. For all I know she could be an awesome person once you get to know her. Or she could be a complete psycho bitch, but I would have at least tried to get to know her before I hated her. I doubted she was crazy, but at a first glance I barely knew much about her. She was a farmer and she had come from the city like I had. From what I knew from talking to her she seemed nice; she had a bit of an attitude as well but all together she seemed very easy going, like she didn't have a care in the world.

She was nothing like Mary. Mary had lived here her whole life, unlike me. Mary had her sweet and nice side, but she also was indecisive and sometimes stuck up. Unlike Claire, Mary was very uptight and cared about what every one thought way too much, especially when it came to her parents. They were both pretty girls though, just in their own way. Mary had nearly raven black hair down to her waist, always tied back in intricate braided styles. Her pale porcelain-like skin complemented her complemented her deep brown eyes and think lashes. She was usually hidden behind her thick pair of glasses, though. Claire on the other hand, had bright blonde locks just past her shoulder blades. From what I had seen this season, she had become very tan from working out in the fields. She wasn't as dark as Kai, but the sun had definitely been good to her. Claire's eyes had to be her best feature, being a deep sapphire blue comparable to the ocean. I mean, I'm not saying I had a thing for the girl. It was just a hard aspect to ignore.

Overall, going to the fireworks could be that bad. Considering Claire was nothing like Mary, and that Mary wouldn't dare come near if I was with a different girl, I figured it couldn't be that bad. I guess being optimistic for a change wasn't really a bad thing after all.

When I finally arrived to the Inn I met the gaze of the red head behind the counter. She frantically waved me over. I strolled to the counter and took a seat in front of her. Ann continued wiping down the counter.

"Take a shower," She said without looking up.

"Well I was planning on it," I said pulling down my hat. She picked up the cloth she had been using to wipe down the counter and began wiping down spots on my cheeks.

"You're face is a mess!" She exclaimed as I tried to push her hand away, "You've been mining haven't you?"

"Well… yeah," I said, finally managing to push her away, "It's sort of part of my job," She raised an eyebrow at me, "I'll take a shower don't worry!"

"Good!" She said with a smile, "So that means your coming tonight, right?"

"Uh, yea I guess so," I mumbled, scratching the back of my head.

"Okay! Awesome I knew you would, cause Claire is coming too and it'd be better because neither of you will be the third wheel. It'll be like a double date," She said.

"It's not a date, Ann,"

"Do you like her?" She asked.

"Well I mean I don't know her too well, but I guess yeah she's pretty cool-"

"Do you think she's pretty?" Ann interrupted.

"Uh… well yeah-"

"Are you guys going to be sitting and chatting and hanging out together?" Ann interrupted once again.

"Yeah I guess so-"

"Then it's a date, I said so," She said. I guess there was no arguing with that, "Anyways, Cliff is still getting in some work at the Winery so you two will come together and meet Claire and I there, okay? Good,"

"Okay…remember though we're just friends," I started.

"Go make yourself look presentable." Ann said as she began walking to her room in the back, "You smell like rocks and dirt," With that said, she disappeared into the back room. Guess it was time to get ready.

I trudged up the stairs and into my small room. I was still pretty tiered from all the excavation this passed morning, a shower would be nice. Grabbing the towel off my dresser, I made my way to the bathroom to shower. I turned behind me and locked the door. Finding the perfect temperature for showers here always seemed to take awhile, but after a minute or so, it was finally achieved. Half way through my shower I heard rustling in our room; Cliff must have just got home. I rinsed my body clean and turned the knobs to off. I grabbed my towel off the rack next to me and secured it around my waist. I pushed open the bathroom door to see Cliff combing out his hair in the mirror above his dresser. He turned to face me.

"So you're coming after all?" he asked.

"Uh yea I guess so," I replied as I went to my dresser. To my surprise, a pair of khakis and a dark blue polo was set out for me. I turned to my roommate, "Did you do this..?" He shook his head and made his way to the bathroom with his clothes in hand.

While he began to shower I took the time to get dressed. Ann must have set these clothes out for me, because I haven't worn them in a very, very long time. She was really trying hard for this I guess. I put on the neatly folded clothes and went to the mirror to admire my appearance. Ann had a pretty good sense of style; I didn't look too bad. Of course, I looked like I belonged at a country club, not a blacksmith, but I kind of liked it. I looked around the room in search of my hat, had Ann gotten rid of that too? To my surprise, it was still sitting on my bedside table where I had left it before I showered. I placed it on my damp hair and looked back into the mirror. My hat was an essential piece of me; I had to wear it.

Moments later Cliff emerged from the bathroom already dressed. He had on a nice button up shirt and a dark pair of jeans. He must have bought new clothes with the left over money he had from working at the winery.

"I think Ann already left to go get Claire," I started, "We should probably leave soon to meet them there," He nodded and dried his hair our on his towel. I watched him tie his hair back in his signature pony tail. Personally I thought he needed a haircut, but Ann liked it so it was here to stay.

"You ready?" He asked. I nodded and we both made our way out of the Inn.

We walked side by side in a comfortable silence past Rose Square and towards the beach. When we arrived I scanned the crowd for the two girls. I spotted Ann towards the far end of the beach on a yellow blanket. Claire was no where to be seen.

I exchanged glances with Cliff, and reluctantly walked through the sand to Ann. She looked up at me, giving me a look that could kill, and almost as quickly looked away and crossed her arms. What was her deal? I had talked to Ann earlier and she was completely fine… Did she expect me to bring like a bouquet or something? Why wasn't Claire here?

"Where's Claire?" I asked the red head. She scoffed at my question. What was her problem today?

"I should be asking you that," She said with a glare.

"What are you talking about, Ann?" I asked, "You said you and her were going to meet Cliff and me here…"

"Ugh. You're so dense it's unbelievable," She said shaking her head, "To think, I thought you were a good guy,"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked, now infuriated.

"If you honestly don't know, you should go talk to her!" Ann yelled.

"Talk to who!"

"Claire!" She yelled again, "Are you stupid?"

"I…" I started, changing my tone to a softer one, "I don't even know what your talking about," Ann didn't speak a word, she simply looked at me square in the eyes. I looked over to Cliff as he sat down next to her. He bit his lip, if trying to hold back words, "Okay then… I guess I'll see you guys later then,"

Without another word spoken, I began walking to the beaches exit I turned to meet the glance of Mary. She looked at me almost pleadingly. I stopped for a split second, almost in thought of what I should do. After a deep breath, I tore away from the eye contact and continued on to Claire's house.

What had I done that could of possibly stopped Claire from coming completely, and made Ann, who was completely cool with me earlier, snap on me at a public festival? No ideas came to mind, I guess I was really going to have to talk this out with Claire.

After a short walk I ended up outside her door, hesitating to knock. I looked around the farm; it was late so I was completely sure she had to be inside. Finally, I pushed myself to knock on the door.

"Claire?" I said, "You in there?"

No reply. I knocked again.

"Claire?"

Again, no I took it into my own hands to at least see if she was home. What if she had gotten stranded out in the mine or in the forest or something? To my surprise, the door was unlocked. I pushed open the door to the quaint little home. The lights were on, she had to be home.

Suddenly, I heard a faint noise. Almost like sniffling.

"Claire?" I asked again.

"Who's there," A voice shakily said. It was Claire. I steadily walked over to the couch where the noise had come from. The sight shocked me, to say the least.

Shriveled up in a blanket was a sobbing mess which I was sure was Claire. She was uncontrollably sniffing and trying to hide her cries. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, how long had she been crying? The blanket she had wrapped herself with was damp with her tears, not a good sign. Her hair was an unruly mess, some was knotted and some stuck to her face from crying.

"Oh Gray," She said pushing all her hair back from her face, her voice sounded fake and forced, "I wasn't expecting you, or anyone. I'm sorry everything is such a mess…"

"Claire… Are you okay?" I asked. I took a step closer.

"Oh hah me? I'm fine really, here sit down. I'll make you some tea," Claire said in between sniffles. She tries standing up as quickly as she could and almost topples over. Luckily for her I was there to catch her.

"Clare, you're obviously not okay. Don't be stupid about this just let me help you!" I said. After I said those words she immediately began sobbing again in my arms. Not exactly my idea of getting to know someone, but it would have to do.

"I-t can't do it," She said between sobs, almost unable to hear.

"What?" I asked trying to be as sympathetic as I could be, which was hard for me.

"I'm so… so stupid. I'm so… s-sorry to drag you into this," She said before beginning to cry even harder.

"It's going to be okay," I said, a little forced. This was getting awkward, a girl I was barely friends with was crying incoherently on my shoulder.

"G-gray…" She managed to force out, "Please don't hate me,"

"What do you mean?" I asked. She took a deep breath.

"I'm pregnant,"


	7. Breaking Through Stone

**(( Hey everyone, one weekish update... YAY :) Thank you everyone who reveiwed this passed chapter, it really means a lot to me. You all modivate me to write more 3**

**So I'll be going out of town for another tournament this weekend so I really wanted to get this out so my readers have something to do while I'm gone and unable to write. That being said, my next reveiw might not be as soon as I hope (because I usually use the weekends for my writing time) but I'll do all I can for you all :)**

**Enjoy :) ))**

_I don't own Harvest Moon or any related characters, ideas, themes, etc. _

**Chapter 7**

I was swallowed in complete and udder white. White walls, white floor, white curtains, white chairs, everything around me was white. The only splash of color in the whole establishment had to be my grandfather and I, who sat in the pristine white chairs. The room was engulfed in a silence, besides the sound of the clock ticking. Jail had to be something like this. And right now, I don't know where I would have rather been.

It had been hard, but I had no choice but to tell my grandfather about the situation. I had contemplated keeping it to myself for awhile—just until I could come up with the perfect way to tell him—but there wasn't anything I could of told him, besides the truth, to excuse myself from work for all the doctor visits and time spent preparing for the baby. There was no way I could just show up to work with a baby in my hand. Grandpa would kill me.

"When I said you should thinking about starting a family, I didn't mean the next day," Grandpa whispered to me, "This is extremely irresponsible of you, Gray. I'm very disappointed," I looked over to him, but said no words. Every since Claire dropped this bomb on me I haven't really been able to say much anyway.

"_I'm pregnant," _

How are you supposed to react when someone tells you that, let alone someone who's closer to an acquaintance than friend? The one mistake I made just had to lead to this. I had no idea what I was going to do; I didn't even know for a hundred percent fact she was even pregnant, she could of messed up somewhere along the line. There was no way to even know whether she was going to keep it or not. I would be stuck with her for the next eighteen years… and we'd have a child. Together.

This had to be some sort of sick dream I was stuck in. This whole ordeal seemed completely surreal.

"Gray," I looked up to see the tall dark haired doctor Trent standing before me, "I'd like you to come back with me. I want to talk to you two, together," I silently nodded and followed the man behind the while curtains.

Sitting at the only examination table in the room, was Claire. She still looked like a wreck; it was a sad sight to see. I had to imagine it had to be hard on both of us to be utterly blindsided by all this, but the emotional toll on Claire had to be unbearable. Her face remained blank as we entered the room. I couldn't read a single emotion on Claire.

"So," The doctor started as he diligently examined his clipboard, "Good news, Claire you are in fact pregnant. Congratulations," Claire and I both knew as well as the other this wasn't exactly _good_ news.

"Thank you, Doctor," Claire said softly. There was an underlying tone in her voice, it sounded like she wasn't really all there.

"Anyways, I'd like both of you to come in for monthly appointments up until the baby is born sometime in mid spring for ultrasounds and a check up for Claire to make sure everything is doing okay," The doctor said smoothly, observing our emotions.

"Ah…okay," Claire started.

"You are planning on keeping it, aren't you?" The doctor asked softly. Claire looked over to me, meeting my questioning gaze. The room remained silent as we stayed in a steady eye lock. I didn't know what she was going to do. What if she did… want to get rid of it?

Claire spoke up moments later, breaking the heavy silence. She glanced in my direction as she talked, "Yes, I'm going to keep it," I couldn't say that I wasn't surprised; an abortion in a place like this was almost completely unheard of. I doubt the doctor would have even performed one on her if she would have decided so.

In a way I was relived she was keeping it, it was my child of course. But at the same time I was petrified. In no way was I ready to be a father.

"Okay, wonderful," The doctor said, "So will you both be attending? It would be very beneficial if both of you were on the same page during each stage of the pregnancy," The doctor carried his gaze over to meet mine.

"Oh, uh yea I guess so," I said as a played with the bill of my hat.

"Good," He said as he took his eyes off solely me, "Well congratulations you guys, thank you for coming in. Claire you can check out with Eli as you leave," She nodded and we both began exiting the room. But before I could exit, the doctor caught my arm. "Gray, I'd like to have a word with you. In private," I followed the taller man back behind the curtain.

"Yeah, sure Trent… what's up?" I said a tad nervously.

"I hope you're planning on being a part of the baby _and_ Claire's lives," He said sternly. His dark almond eyes pierced right though mine. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"Of course…" I started, "I plan on being active in the baby's childhood and thereafter," He raised an eyebrow at me.

"And what about Claire?"

"What about her? She's a big girl," I retorted.

"You don't understand, Gray. Claire is going to need you now more than ever, and you need to be there for not only the baby but for her," He quickly replied.

"But I-"

"How do you expect her to do her farm work while she's six months pregnant?" He interrupted. I remained silent. "Exactly. Are you two even together, Gray?"

"I don't really think that's any of your business, Trent," I said flatly. He crossed his arms and glared.

"So I take that as a no," He said, "Then you especially owe it to her to be there for her if you were really that careless as to get her knocked up,"

"It's… I didn't even…" I trailed off. He turned his back and began walking back to his desk.

"I really do hope to see you at the next appointment," He said, "You're free to go,"

I huffed and stomped out of the office. Trent was a dick. Just because he had been in a strong relationship with his nurse, Eli, for a year or two didn't justify him to tell me how to take care of my personal affairs. Actually, it gave him no right what's so ever. He had no clue what either of us was going through; Trent had never been in a position like this. He didn't even know Claire anyway. She had been working her ass off on a dump of a farm _alone. _She didn't need me, or anyone else for that matter to baby her.

I was greeted by my grandfather and Claire in the main room of the clinic. We silently filed out of the establishment. As we were hit with the warm summer winds, Claire turned to both my grandfather and I.

"If you guys don't mind, would you both like to come over for tea… to sort out this situation?" She said, not making direct eye contact with either of us. I glanced over to my grandpa. He didn't even look my way.

"Yes, dear that would be a wonderful idea," He said politely, "Right, son?" I took a deep breath and nodded as I began fidgeting with the brim of my cap. We followed Claire on the short walk to her farm in a complete silence. No one of us wanted to speak up; there really wasn't anything to say anyway.

Minutes later we arrived on her farm. It had been awhile since I had seen her farm in broad daylight. It looked awesome; she must have been putting in crazy amounts of hours during the week. Now that I'd mentioned it, I never did see her around town. The brief times I would see her wandering about the town was when she would go to the supermarket for food and seeds, the clinic for medicine, the two animal farms for what I presumed were animal related purchases, at the blacksmith for tool upgrades, and on occasion at the Inn for dinner and or drinks. Those had to be the only times I really did see her. And of course, we never said a word. I would watch her hastily make her way up from the farm through the blacksmith window while she carried about her day, in the least creepy way possible. I wasn't stalking her or anything.

Grandpa and I followed Claire into her humble home and asked us to take a seat in the dinning room. I looked around the main room. She had cleaned up after I left last night; all the blankets she had cocooned herself with had been neatly folded up and set on the arm of her sofa, and all together the appearance of the place all together seemed more organized.

She excused herself into the smaller kitchen to prepare us all some tea. As she walked away my grandfather used this as another opportunity to completely ridicule me.

"Well, I guess out of all the girls you could have got pregnant you chose a polite one," He said, obviously trying to be funny.

"Shut up," I replied curtly. "This is serious. I brought you with me because I trust you, not because I wanted you to make fun of me,"

"Then you shouldn't of been careless and got a nice girl pregnant," He snapped. I chose to stay silent, knowing there wasn't anything I could really say without starting a scene in Claire's home. We both stayed contently silent until Claire returned back with three cups in one hand and a kettle in the other. She set a mug in front of each of our respective spots and began pouring in the piping hot liquid.

"Thank you for having us over, Claire," Grandpa said with a smile.

"Oh it's my pleasure, I don't really have people over that often… so it's nice," She said softly.

"Well it really is nice of you," He replied. We all looked around in an awkward silence. No one really knew where to go from here. I took the initiative to attempt to spark conversation on the topic we all knew we wanted to talk about.

"So… what exactly did you want to discuss, Claire?" I asked hesitantly. My words seemed to catch her off guard.

"Oh… ah yea that _is_ why you're here in the first place," She said with a nervous laugh. I nodded with an awkward forced smile. Her tone got significantly more serious as she spoke again, "I just want to know honestly and please don't lie to me…are you going to be part of the baby's life? Because you need to decide now, it's either yes or no. I'm not going to stay here and raise a child by myself...I would probably go back to the city with my family…"

"Claire…" I hesitated.

"What is it going to be, Gray?" She asked forcefully.

"Of course I'm going to be a part of its life… what kind of person do you take me for?" I said almost a little hurt she had to ask me.

"I had to ask because honestly I don't know what kind of person you really are," Claire said sheepishly.

"So you two barely know each other and you're having a child together?" Grandpa interrupted.

"Butt out, Gramps," I said to the old man next to me.

"You know, in my day something like this was almost completely unheard of. Even in a town like this, if news gets around it'd be a complete scandal. But when I was your age, when things like this happened they would immediately get married. I reckon that what you 'oughta do," I spit out all the liquid in my mouth in utter surprise to my grandfather's words.

"W-what?" I exclaimed. Claire looked just as shocked as I did. Grandpa stayed perfectly content with his words.

"You heard what I said," He said.

"Uh… well I don't really know if that would really be necessary…" Claire started uneasily. She gazed over to me almost in a questioning matter. I didn't know what to say to her. Marriage? What in the world was happening to my life?

"We'll save this discussion for later on in the pregnancy," my grandfather spouted, "But I think you two should really consider it. If you guys could even begin to understand the outrage of the town if everyone found out two unmarried people were having a child together, you'd side with me," His last statement left a lasting impression in my mind. Everyone in town seemed very easy going and carefree when it came to their simple daily lives, but I knew just from being around Mary and her family that situations like Claire's and mine would most be subjected to scrutiny and gossip among the towns folk. In Claire's position would be extremely difficult for her being new and all, and I sympathized with her. But marriage…I couldn't do it.

"Um… okay, thank you Saibara for your insight," Claire said as nicely as she could force out. She and I both knew that what he was spouting about was complete nonsense, but in order to get his support throughout the pregnancy she knew kissing his ass was the best move.

"Well, anyways," Grandpa said as he got up from his chair at the table, "If you two excuse me I'll be at the Inn for supper," I started to get up too, I mean I was hungry too. But then Grandpa spoke again, "Gray, you 'oughta stay here,"

"Huh?"

"You heard me, boy," He said, "Take this opportunity to get to know the damn girl since from what I've seen you two both barely know a thing 'bout the other. And I'm sure Claire wouldn't mind having some company," We both looked over to the blonde, obviously not paying attention to Grandpa and my conversation, who sat contently in her chair sipping her tea. A few seconds later her head finally snapped up and the words registered in her head.

"O-oh!" She exclaimed, "Yes of course you're welcome to stay if you'd like," Her cheeks slowly became pigmented with a reddish tint. She was pretty cute when she blushed. Ugh, what in the word was I thinking? I didn't really want to stay alone here with Claire making awkward idle chit chat.

"Well good, see you tomorrow, son," But I guess that's what I was going to be stuck here doing.

I turned to the still blushing blonde. I sat back down at the table across from her but still she didn't speak. She was going to make this very difficult for me.

"So… what do you think I should know about you?" I asked flatly. She took of her tea, probably thinking of an answer to such a vague question.

"Well… twenty one, I'll be twenty two in autumn. I came from the city two around two seasons ago… Umm… I finished college just before last summer. I'm allergic to peanuts…I don't really know what else to tell you," She said with a real laugh. I half smiled at that.

"Why did you come here then? If you had graduated college? You could have been in a lot better place than this," I asked the blonde. She took another sip.

"It's complicated," She said quickly, "It's not really that important anyway… I'll save that story for a rainy day," I remained quiet. "So what should I know about you?"

"I'm also from the city…was sent here years back when I was 19. I never went to college…I barely finished high school," I started as I fiddled with my hat, "Umm… I'll be twenty four in winter. I love corn. That's it,"

"Sent here?" she asked.

"Ah yeah…by my parents a few years back," I said scratching at the back of my head.

"Why?" She asked, now intrigued.

"I wasn't exactly a great kid," I said with a bit of a laugh, "I ditched classes a lot, went to parties, and didn't exactly do homework…. I guess I just hung out with the wrong crowd at that age. So when I didn't get into any colleges my parents had had it and sent me our here hoping my grandpa could whip me into shape,"

"Oh," She said, "So if it was up to here you wouldn't be here?"

"No… probably not," I said, "But granted I wouldn't be in as good of as a place I am now if I wouldn't of. I'd probably be living on the streets working at some fast food joint," I laughed to myself, "I mean… I was mad at my parents for awhile. I ignored phone calls, letters, the whole thing for a few months… but by the time I realized they had actually helped me, I was basically cut out of the family,"

"I'm so sorry," Claire said sympathetically. She reached across the table and placed her hand on mine, "I'm always here for you if you need me to be. Have you tried contacting them recently?"

"Meh… it's not really worth it anymore," I said with a shrug, "I got over it awhile ago. If they don't want me around I guess it's for the better," Claire frowned. Oh well, there was nothing she, or I, could do about it. Shit happens.

"Well… there is a good thing," Claire said sheepishly.

"What would that be?"

"This is the longest we've talked without you being drunk, yelling at me, or apologizing to me," I laughed. What a stupid thing to say.

"Ha, yeah I guess so," She smiled at me from across the table. And not that annoying toothy grin, but a genuine smile. It was one of the first smiles I had seen from her.

"Do you like being a blacksmith?" She quickly asked. I had to think about that for a second or two. Did I?

"Umm… Yea I mean I guess. I've just been so accustomed to doing it for so long that I can't even tell if I enjoy it," I said with a deep breath.

"Why would you do something that you don't enjoy?"

"I didn't say that I didn't enjoy it,"

"But you also didn't say you did," She said with a smirk.

"Just shut up and let me explain myself, okay?" She nodded, "I like what I do. I just don't like my grandfather being a prick,"

"Then don't be an ass and piss him off," She said.

"It's not like I purposely do ass-y things to piss him off! He just gets so butt-hurt so easily," I said. Why did she care so much anyway?

"Saibara?" She asked, "But he seems so nice!"

"You don't know the half of it," I scoffed.

"Well I think one day you'll be a great blacksmith like him," Claire said with a smile, "it may not be for awhile… but I think you can,"

"Uh… thanks I think?" I said. I felt my face getting warmer, "You really know how to give a compliment," She laughed.

"Thanks. I try," She joked.

"And do you like farming?" I asked. She placed a finger to her lips in thought.

"It's different," Claire said, "I never thought I would be doing anything like this…ever,"

"Then why are you doing it?"

"Just cause," She said, "I like it a lot more than I would have thought. I like the harvesting, and the animals, and just this whole town is amazing. The city was never like this. So I guess for my final answer is yes, I like it,"

"That's cool," Claire really wasn't that bad. I hadn't talked to someone so easily in a long, long time.

"Well I guess this day wasn't quite as bad as I thought it was going to be," Claire said with a small laugh. "Thanks," We both got up from a spots at the table and began walking towards her door.

"Thanks for having me," I said as I tugged at my hat, "It's nice to say I actually know something about you now,"

"Yeah, I liked this… we should do it again sometime," She said hesitantly, "I mean it wouldn't hurt to know a thing or two about the father of my child,"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," I said. Claire was always the bluntest.

"Well I'll see you later," She said as she opened the front door. I began walking out.

"See ya," I muttered as a started walking away from the farm house.

"Gray, wait," Claire called from the doorway. I turned to face the blonde with a questioning glance.

"Yea what's up?" I asked.

"Tomorrow… do you want to get dinner with me at the Inn?" Claire asked confidently. It was a bit of a surprising question.

"Uh yea… sure," I replied.

"Okay! Awesome… I'll see you tomorrow," She called to me. I waved and began my path to the Inn.

In some way, I was looking forward to tomorrow. Maybe this all wasn't going to be as bad as I'd assumed.


End file.
